a new odysseus
high in ithaca
a new odysseus lost
just look to the sky
they married in a barn over an alter of hay and lanterns
while his bride & her groom
cascaded their hips
to pink
there’s a waltz
playin frozen in time
uncle dave tugged me across the
room
wheelchair darting
selling me off to a dance partner
a budding seventeen
his nurse
the cropped brown hair and prickly chin
scrambling
back and forth - forth and back
to catch
the grippy plastic wheelchair handles
their eyes locked
& for dave the match was called
love/ love
said, what are you anchored to this
old ship for
with a lady like
that
waiting on the
widows walk?
Dance he said
dave couldn’t remember my name
or that we were related
but that could not stop the romantic in him
amen
a different beat hummed
ten strings thrummed
in a different party days away
a whole parish brightly lit & unadorned
crossed only by rows of chairs & skylights in the ceiling
the curator said
it could be a
church for a day
following like grapes from the same vine between seasons
family got up
told their best hooting
best hollering
tales
a-man
he was a fighter
pilot with me in the war
he kept trying to
set me up on dates
our first dance,
I slapped him
he skipped the air
force class where we learned to land solo
he went AWOL to bring
me daffodils
he set me up with
the 34 year old nurse
next class he
went up by himself and circled four hours cause he couldn’t get down
we had a good
marriage
he stole licks
off my mint chocolate ice cream when I wasn’t looking
he lived to see
his sons flourish
he lived to see
their funerals
somehow he landed
the damn thing near perfect in a corn field
a man
I explored the old rooms above where mimi & jane
once kenny
once robert
once dave
dreamed
the rooms are decorated
& antique
& handcrafted
mimi lives alone now
up until 80 years
she too held the sky
& flew herself to vermont
one person in a two-seater
for teeth cleanings
here there are wings over doorways
no crosses in sight
a woman
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